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The Friday List -- Best State Political Blogs?

With apologies to fellow post.com blogger Liz Kelly and her terrific "Celebritology" blog, we wanted to make this a Friday List rather than a traditional Fix Friday Line -- primarily because The Fix is on vacation and watching college hoops.

But that experiment only scratches the surface when it comes to finding the best political information from the states. So much is information is conveyed via blogs these days -- The Fix, for instance -- that any look at the sources of the best political dope is incomplete without a list of the best state-based political blogs.

That short list isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to state-based politics blogs. Use the comments section below to offer your favorites. Remember, we want blogs that focus primarily on state, not national, politics. They can be attached to a newspaper or other media outlet, or not. Our goal is to list at least one political blog for each of the 50 states, so make sure your home state is represented!

We'll do our best to compile a full list and add them to a special Fix blog roll directory so you can always access them.

Yes, it's Vermont that has the Green Mountains. And a couple of good political blogs, too. The top two in my mind are Green Mountain Daily (www.greenmountaindaily.com) and Vermont Daily Briefing (www.vermontdailybriefing.com).
The sap is just starting to rise in the maple trees. Spring is here!

Obama's efforts to connect to the Republican Party, specifically Bush, and Dick Chaney, of the Halliburton Company, dates back to the Presidents Grandfather, Prescott Bush, and indeed Chaney was once an executive officer of Halliburton.

The American military pounds Iraq with Artillary, bombs, and the like, destroying large sections of cities, and infra-structures, then Halliburton comes in to rebuild. Halliburton and Halliburton associated companies have raked in ten's of billions.

Obama is just like the BIG HALIBURTAN. Haliburton has contracted to build detention centers in the U.S. similiar to the one in Quantanammo Bay, Cuba. Halliburton does nothing to earn the Two Dollars for each meal an American Serviceman in Iraq eats.

Halliburton was scheduled to take control of the Dubai Ports in The United Arab Emiirate. The deal was canceled when Bush was unable to affect the transfer of the American Ports.

Now we see what some might suspect as similiar financial escapading from the Democrats.

Two years ago, Iraq's Ministry of Electricity gave a $50 million contract to a start-up security company - Companion- owned by now-indicted businessman (TONY REZKO) Tony Rezko and a onetime Chicago cop, Daniel T. Frawley, to train Iraqi power-plant guards in the United States. An Iraqi leadership change left the deal in limbo. Now the company, Companion Security, is working to revive its contract.
Involved along with Antoin "Tony" Rezco, long time friend and neighbor of Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and former cop Daniel T. Frawley, is Aiham Alsammarae. Alsammarae was accused of financial corruption by Iraqi authorities and jailed in Iraq last year before escaping and returning here.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON --
Recently, Obama's campaign staff have been vetted by the IRS to disclose his connection to the criminal money generating underworld. Besides, his connections to the REZCO MAFIA types, his up-coming tax fraud charges -- Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and disclose Obama's MUSLIM Farrakhan mob connection to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church are trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah. Obama should stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It's time to introduce this false, fake Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke "GLORK" Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek. He is MAD!!! --

OBAM YOU'RE NO JFK --

"GLORK" Obama looks like Alfred E. Newman: "Tales Calculated To Drive You." He is a MUSLIM "Glork" He's MAD!!! Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot of Mad. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman after he spotted it on the bulletin board in the office of Ballantine Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff, later a contributor to various magazines created by Kurtzman.
Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It's time to introduce this false, fake "GLORK" Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek.

Michelle Obama should be ashamed.

"GLORK" Michelle Obama should be ashamed of her separatist-racist connection to Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah. If Michelle Obama new what her husband -- the Hope-A-Dope, Fonster Monster -- Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama did in Harlem, she would wash her wide-open, Hus-suey loving MUSILM mouth out, with twenty-four (24) mule-team double-cross X-boX-BorraX. He is a MUSLIM "Glork" It's time to introduce this false, fake "GLORK" Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek. He's MAD!!!

The Apologia has arrived and once again the self-indicting, separatist-racist Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama, promises to heal the wounds of the world. The speech is the rude awakening of mass messianism of his campaign. Apologetically, Obama the MUSLIM double-cross X-boX-BorraX has an astonishingly empty two-prawn echelon explanation of his misjudgment.
In the first prawn: with regard to his connection to separatist-racist Rev. Wright; Obama summons voodoo and juju to express slavery as beginning and ending with the Rev. Wright.
In the second prawn: Obama's speech takes credit for Ashley's dream. A dream of unity Martin Luther King, Jr. borrowed from Ashley for his historic "I Have A Dream" speech. In Obama's speech, the connective bond Ashley, the elderly black man and Obama's grandmother share; represents Obama's self-indicting rise to the Harvard Yard. For Obama, the grand flag of language is the semi-fore of words, bestowed upon our nation by the messiah-alumni from Harvard. Obama's Swoon-Song Apologia to the nation represents a failed hymn -- a hymn that fails to heal the nation, repair the world, or make this time different than all the rest. Obama's speech is a brilliant failure.

id like to nominate:http://www.takingdownwords.com - published by jen wagner, of the indiana democratic party.
and heres another gop-adulterer/white collar crime scandal for you all:

http://x-wire.blogspot.com/2008/03/paul-helmke-adulterer-white-collar.html
heres a preview of the white collar crime, and adultery committed by x-mayor paul helmke during his 12 yr term.
he is featured in this video clip.
he is a yale classmate of the clintons, and is documented in local newspapers as smoking marijuana, and committing adulterey, as noted in my above x-wire blog posting.
please comment on my blog, for follow up information.
I have been unable to obtain jsutice in fort wayne. maybe the ghosts of woodward and bernstein can vindicate me, and indict the guilty.

My big read/listen currently is The Texas Blue. It's a D-focused blog, but it's been incredibly informative. A friend pointed me to it when I was trying to figure out the whole "Texas two-step" process. I was finally able to understand it, and, for once, the numbers actually made sense. Of course, its biggest asset to me is the podcast--in an office full of silence, I need something to listen to while I'm coding away.

While I happen to think for MN that truenorth is run by a band of lunatics, they are independent lunatics. The FEC reports sing a different song about MinnesotaDemocratExposed, and I assume there is a reason you wanted blogs, not just straight links to candidate websites.

What constitutes a good poliical blog? News making, news commenting, news reporting, or parrty talking points shoveling? The Minnesota suggestions contain all of those, and almost all have a particular party slant.

MNPublius is too reliably DFL party chat; MN Blue is deeper, more diverse and progressive; True North recycles posts from the extreme end of the GOP; Minnesota Democrats Exposed is its attack dog; Minnesota Monitor is a general news source with a leftward political slant.

Minnesota Campaign Report, of all the nominees so far, aims to actually report as well as comment on political news, and has its diaries open to all, though the takers are decidedly on the Dem side.

Not yet mentioned is Politics in Minnesota, run by a GOP lobbyist, but worthy for its comprehensive, cross-party coverage. Technically, it's a "public affairs news service," but if you had to pick one online gateway to Minnesota political news, that would be it. http://www.politicsinminnesota.com/

I read and enjoy mnblue.com several times a week because the commentary is interesting, knowledgeable, and contains several points of view. It is a progressive blog, contains the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter, and therefore wouldn't interest someone with a conservative political point of view. That said, the points of view can be heated and diverse.

In Texas, Capitol Annex (CapitolAnnex.com) is my favorite Texas politics blog. It is strictly state politics for Texas. This blog has the single-best coverage of the Texas Legislature of any other blog.

In Minnesota, http://mnpublius.com/ provides fantastic commentary on the local political scene. With the initial posts on the site the work of 3 local bloggers, 2 law students and one former chair of the state young DFL (that's democratic-farmer-labor, Minnesota being the only Democratic party using the name) party, the blog really has provided wonderful coverage of the local caucuses.

This is too much like out of control email, but I'll put our plug in for http://www.mnblue.com, run by the Big E - Eric Pusey, and plugged into Minnesota's political machinery from several angles. Tune in and turn on (who said that? Leary?) to MNBlue's diverse views and insider news on our state's political scene.

Then again, anyone who'd have me as a blogger on his site must be suspect.

i don't defend Wright's irrational statements/charges. As a former Jesuit, however, I have an appreciation for the extremes of preaching, esp in black congregations. As I've written before, I still have problems with Barack's relationship with that church. I myself have had to wrestle with the Catholic church and its teachings and my own conscience and beliefs. If I were running for office, another level of competing interests would arise. I continue to listen.

My concern is quite practical: how does any of this impact Barack as President. I'd be much more comfortable with an independent thinker who belongs to a rather extreme prophetic church than someone like Bush who actually believes that "God" speaks through him.

I have yet to see any evidence to suggest that Barack is in any way influenced by his former pastor. From my own experience, I can say that there are millions of Catholics who are not influenced by their pastors....which is not to say there are not those who are.

A non-issue for me at the moment. Admittedly a very important issue for others. But so it goes.

I am now off for Good Friday, I guess. "servicing constituents" is the line of the day. Thank you KOZ.

I am an American like Dave, Wpost. I know the black people who live in my neighborhood and the black people in my office complex and the black guy who is in my Friday morning breakfast group [whom I have known since 1970] and my black clients.

I am sure gang kids would scare me.

My breakfast group talked about Wright this morning. In fact it was Fred who was most critical of him. He said he was old enough [67] to remember having lived through the injustice Wright cited to stoke the anger, but old enough to remember that his kids all had pretty much the same opportunities
white kids had [they are all college grads from predominantly white schools] because he and his wife worked their a$$es off and
because people of all colors changed how Texas operated, in time for his kids.

proud, it was Fred who pointed out the obvious: BHO used that church for his Chicago political base. To Fred that was a big "so what? What else is new?" Fred is an elder in his church. But he would also shoot a burglar of any skin color.

wpost4112 - "Documentation of this type of minority exclusion is typically done by superimposing racial and ethnic composition data onto geo-coded public records pertaining to zoning, water and sewer services, infrastructure, and land-use development plans."

It would be interesting, to me at least, to see what it would look like if they superimposed class, wealth, gender, age, height, weight, hair color, political makeup or education composition data instead of racial and ethnic data. Just think what nefarious conclusions we could draw from that. Regardless, it seems to me a stretch to go from superimposed composites to apartheid.

racial residential segregation and involves the intentional manipulation of zoning and land-use regulations -- most often by local White elites.

you leap from claiming this is happening to the motivations of the perpetrators. this violates any meaningful conclusion and puts you in the junk science category.

I have little doubt that this is happening but suspect that the motivation is more along the lines of taking advantage of poor people or politically weak people or the worst neighborhoods for tax collection or the dirtiest.

Who happen to be black. to attribute it to racism has no support from the data. there may be a correlation but this does not confirm the "white elites" racism, as you would have it.

Minnesota has some really great political blogs that have already been mentioned, but there is a new one in town that's been overlooked: The Defenestrator. Sarcastic, funny and intelligent, Rich Goldsmith delivers MN and national politics with wit and charm.

Getting back (sort of) to the topic of this post, is there anyone else that has the feeling that Minnesota leads the country in bloggers and blogs. There seems to be a disproportionate amount of both on this blog (not that there is anything wrong with that). I seriously find it fascinating. BSimon, have you been calling all your friends?!?

If you live in a small all white town, what basis would you have to fear blacks, if you never, ever saw one.

-----------------

...We have begun to document several pernicious forms of contemporary racial discrimination which are sapping the lifeblood from African American and other minority communities in towns across the United States. Documentation of this type of minority exclusion is typically done by superimposing racial and ethnic composition data onto geo-coded public records pertaining to zoning, water and sewer services, infrastructure, and land-use development plans.

This technique shows a contemporary pattern of discrimination which builds upon a common historical pattern of racial residential segregation and involves the intentional manipulation of zoning and land-use regulations -- most often by local White elites. Resembling the apartheid-like conditions that have contributed to the growth of an underclass in U.S. cities, African Americans and other minorities in these towns are denied political involvement in economic development decision-making and access to critical infrastructure resources like sewer services, while their neighborhoods typically are targeted simultaneously for locally unwanted land-uses such as highways and sewage treatment facilities. These discriminatory actions expose African Americans to major public health risks, heighten the incidence of poverty in their neighborhoods, and are a heretofore-unrecognized contributor to Black land loss.

bsimon - "I don't recall where you live, but up here in MN, the stereotype is pretty valid, as far as stereotypes go."

I live in Northern Virginia (which probably comes closer to wposts typical America) and have travelled all over the country, including MN and KS, as well as the world. What I would say is that one needs to be carefull of believing it is purely because someone is black that these events occur. In NoVa as I would imagine in a lot of places, there are various gangs. If I am walking down a street and avoid someone who looks like a gang member, and they happen to be black (but more probably hispanic in my area), that does not count. People tend to be apprehensive of differences and I am not naive enough to think that color does not sometimes play a part in it. That said, in my experience, the apprehension is based on things other than race more often than not.

Pitiful, that in this age, Libs still need to race-bait to get elected.

Stereotypes are used by humans because over time they are more correct than not. If you live in a small all white town, what basis would you have to fear blacks, if you never, ever saw one.

this liberal proclivity to "know" everyone's evil minds across the nation is disturbing. I would not assume the worst of our citizens, because in all measures, they are the most non-racist, giving, caring and generous nation on earth.

Just because we have not quite reached liberal utopia through government intervention, does not mean we have not come far and we are not leading the world.

does being a liberal require pessimism and cynicism as a pre-requisite?

If you need that to get elected too bad. I don't know it and reject it out of hand. My kids don't even know what skin color is, it is the same as hair color or shirt color to them. I live in a majority black city. After a while, you just stop noticing.

Once a visitor from Iceland came with me to TGI Fridays. now, mind you, there are zero blacks in Iceland. She remarked something about how many blacks there were in the restaurant. I looked up and for the first time, noticed she was right. It simply never occured to me.

dave writes
"What is silly is pretending to carry sterotypes from what MIGHT have had some truth to it 40 years ago and applying them to today."

I don't recall where you live, but up here in MN, the stereotype is pretty valid, as far as stereotypes go. I don't know where Obama's grandmother lives, but my guess is that its an equally valid stereotype of white folks - particularly the elderly - in small town Kansas. I'd love to be wrong, but based on my experience in other small midwestern towns, I'm not. Of course that, itself, is a stereotype.

bsimon - "My apologies for being unaware of the new source of unrest."
Not a problem, I should have sourced. And perhaps added that it was Obama's attempt to explain the "grandmother" remarks he was getting flack over from the big speech.

Her schedule records that she and Cherie Blair, the then Prime Minister's wife, were to "proceed to the children's play area, where children are creating playground models". They were then to "proceed down the path where they are joined by 25 children with balloons" and go "to the top of the hill and release the balloons".

Tiller Admits Aborting Babies A Day Before Due Date Notorious partial-birth abortion specialist Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, KS, was caught on hidden video admitting to aborting babies a day before the mother's due date.

wpost4112 - "There are exceptions, but it is generally true. It's silly to pretend otherwise."

I don't think of myself as exceptional. I do think that, based on my experiences of the places I have lived and visited and the people I have known, that your generalization is full of crap. What is silly is pretending to carry sterotypes from what MIGHT have had some truth to it 40 years ago and applying them to today. I'm not saying that it never happens today, I am saying that it is not the norm for the majority of white people, at least those I have known in my life.

"USC_Mike
Do you realize how hateful, pity, and jealous you come off as? You should attack Obama on issue such as his ideas are not affordable without raising our taxes. When you attack his personality you only make yourself seem like a real a-hole."

It doesn't make Barack's statement any less true. Not a very "PC" thing to say, and not something that furthers the conversation particularly, but true nonetheless. Just part of being honest with ourselves about the state of things in our land. Has nothing to do with government involvement, just our national self-awareness.

"I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother Â– a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

It sounds like it to me...
"... The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it..." - Senator Barack Obama

drindl - "will you condemn this from john mccain's spiratual advisor, gop? or is this okay because Rev. parsley is white?"

First off, the term was "spiritual guide" and the full blurb from the Columbus Dispatch is: "McCain called Parsley a "spiritual guide," while Parsley later labeled McCain a "strong, true, consistent conservative."

Notice it did not say that Parsley was HIS (McCain's) spiritual advisor (or guide), nor did it imply a 20 year relationship between the two nor did it say that it was McCain's church. But then, when you are busy casting racial aspersions towards large groups of people (of which I am one), you should be sure to never ever let the facts get in the way.

USC_Mike
Do you realize how hateful, pity, and jealous you come off as? You should attack Obama on issue such as his ideas are not affordable without raising our taxes. When you attack his personality you only make yourself seem like a real a-hole.

Jeremiah Wright was Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual leader. He is a friend and confidant.

He also has some extreme beliefs. Many of which are disagreeable, or even detestable.

Ask yourself, do you have any close friends or family who have beliefs you consider disagreeable, or even detestable? Have you shunned them or disavowed them in any way? And if you have, what does that say about your character, that you shun those who you do not share all values with?

It would be politically convenient for Obama to disavow Pastor Wright, wouldn't it? But he won't. He actually values his friends, even the ones with these beliefs, which he does not in any way share.

My brother is a raging homophobe. I mean, he hates homosexuality and homosexuals deeply. I'm now supposed to distance myself from him because I have aspirations to run for office?

I won't do it, and neither should Barack Obama. Shame on you who throw stones in your glass houses.

For VA, I second Raising Kaine. They were a strong factor in the election of Gov. Kaine, and the recruitment, nomination, and election of Sen. Webb. A great place for Virginia's spread-out liberal population to gather

White guilt. Obama's purpose in the speech was to put Wright's outrages in context. By context, Obama means history. And by history, he means the history of white racism. Obama says, "We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country," and then proceeds to do precisely that. And what lies at the end of his recital of the long train of white racial assaults from slavery to employment discrimination? Jeremiah Wright, of course.

This contextual analysis of Wright's venom, this extenuation of black hate speech as a product of white racism, is not new. It's the Jesse Jackson politics of racial grievance, expressed in Ivy League diction and Harvard Law nuance. That's why the speech made so many liberal commentators swoon: It bathed them in racial guilt, while flattering their intellectual pretensions. An unbeatable combination.

But Obama was supposed to be new. He flatters himself as a man of the future transcending the anger of the past as represented by his beloved pastor. Obama then waxes rhapsodic about the hope brought by the new consciousness of the young people in his campaign.

Then answer this, senator: If Wright is a man of the past, why would you expose your children to his vitriolic divisiveness? This is a man who curses America and who proclaimed moral satisfaction in the deaths of 3,000 innocents at a time when their bodies were still being sought at Ground Zero. It is not just the older congregants who stand and cheer and roar in wild approval of Wright's rants, but young people as well. Why did you give $22,500 just two years ago to a church run by a man of the past who infects the younger generation with precisely the racial attitudes and animus you say you have come unto us to transcend?

I know this isn't part of the theme today, but with Richardson's endorsement of Obama today, doesn't he have to be on Obama's short list for VP? He's got the national security credentials, swing state appeal, Hispanic appeal... the only argument against him is that Obama might choose a white man if he thinks having a black man and a Hispanic is "too much change" for one election. And considering that this comes at the low point this year for Obama's campaign, I think that has to buy Richardson some extra kudos in Obama's eyes.

Moral equivalence. Sure, says Obama, there's Wright, but at the other "end of the spectrum" there's Geraldine Ferraro, opponents of affirmative action and his own white grandmother, "who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." But did she shout them in a crowded theater to incite, enrage and poison others?

"I can no more disown (Wright) than I can my white grandmother." What exactly was grandma's offense? Jesse Jackson himself once admitted to the fear he feels from the footsteps of black men on the street. And Harry Truman was known to use epithets for blacks and Jews in private, yet is revered for desegregating the armed forces and recognizing the first Jewish state since Jesus' time. He never spread racial hatred. Nor did grandma.

Yet Obama compares her to Wright. Does he not see the moral difference between the occasional private expression of the prejudices of one's time and the use of a public stage to spread racial lies and race hatred?

Obama wants to talk about RACE - well the "RULES" - that you all seem to so proudly hang your self-righteousness on - are in fact AFFIRMATIVE ACTION RULES DESIGNED TO PLACE THE BLACK VOTE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AHEAD OF THE WHITE VOTE IN FLORIDA.

All the Obama supporters do not want to talk about this.

THE DNC HAS GONE COMPLETELY MAD AT THIS POINT - THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT THE BLACKS IN SOUTH CAROLINA HAVE TO BE MAGNIFIED - THE CAUCUS STATE DELEGATES HAVE TO BE MAGNIFIED - AND WHEN ALL THAT WORKS LET'S THROW OUT THE VOTES OF MILLIONS OF WHITES IN FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN - THAT WILL FINALLY GIVE OUR CANDIDATE A MAJORITY.

Who is kidding who?

Seriously. HILLARY DESERVES +70 DELEGATES OUT OF MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA, OBAMA'S TOTALS NEED TO BE ADJUSTED TO DE-MAGNIFY THE CAUCUS STATES WHICH HAVE GIVEN HIM +70 OUT OF THOSE STATES - BY ALL RIGHTS THIS RACE IS 140 DELEGATES CLOSER THAN YOU SEE IN THE MEDIA DELEGATE COUNTS. FROM THAT POINT, LET THEM VOTE.

Of course your idea of a life is blogging all day, posting stale cut and pastes from hate sites and blaming the world's ills on Bush. not much of a life. pitiful really. but then since no will will pay you to write this trash, what else do you have?

"when you envision McC debating either D, do you see more potential for enlightenment coming from the debate with one or the other?"

Considering Hillary is much more up on facts and able to discuss many issues in-depth, (e.g. Obama's deferment to her in answering the "jump-ball" question concernig Russia's new President) then, imo debates between her and McCain would be more substantive and interesting.

Obama's propensity to go into lecture-mode really leaves me cold. Without the teleprompter, his stilted speech is difficult to listen to. She's a better debater; she wins against Obama on substance.

As a forum on how they would govern, I'm looking for substance and action on tough issues in a president, not universal enlightenment or warm fuzzy hopefulness. But, that's just me.

"Does Hagel's current reluctance/refusal to endorse McC suggest he will endorse the D? Does it mean anything?"

I don't think it suggests he'll endorse a Dem. But it is meaningful in being a very public snub of his party's nominee. Most politicians would say something like "I will support my party's nominee" rather than make an on-the-record criticism of the candidate's core issue.

"Does BR's endorsement in Portland signal anything to HRC? Does it have much effect?"

Probably not a huge effect, but potentially helps in NM specifically, possibly with Latinos generally, should Obama win the nomination. Its more interesting as an ex-Clinton cabinet member who chooses Obama over Clinton(2). Adding more still is that Richardson is a Gov in a Red state that has potential to go blue.

You forgot SackofZouk.com -- for the latest far right ramblings, ravings and howling at the moon.

Posted by: drindl | March 21, 2008 11:48 AM
spend the rest of the day obsessing about me, SackofZouk. how does it feel to not have a life? how does it feel to constantly, every minute, think about someone you will never meet? it's truly pathetic, lonely little man.

Posted by: drindl | March 21, 2008 01:44 PM

I guess you could answer that better than me.

Are you still of the notion that fire can't melt steel? that cold indicates warming? that surender is winning? that down in the polls is good? that taxes lead to incentive? that hate speech is splendid? ah... the perils of idiocy and the feeble rantings of the drindl creature.

will you condemn this from john mccain's spiratual advisor, gop? or is this okay because Rev. parsley is white?

"This past week, Sen. Barack Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, has taken an exceptional amount of heat in part for comments that suggested the U.S. government had introduced AIDS into black communities.

But it turns out he's not the only religious confidant to a presidential candidate who thinks the state has targeted black populations with death and disease.

Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio -- whom Sen. John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser -- has suggested on several occasions that the U.S. government was complicit in facilitating black genocide.

In speeches that have gone largely unnoticed, Parsley (who is white) compares Planned Parenthood, the reproductive care and family planning group, to the Klu Klux Klan and Nazis, and describes the American government as enablers of murder for supporting the organization.

"If I were call for the sterilization or the elimination of an entire segment of society, I'd be labeled a racists or a murderer, or at very best a Nazi," says Parsley. "That every single year, millions of our tax dollars are funding a national organization built upon that very goal -- their target: African Americans. That's right, the death toll: nearly fifteen hundred African Americans a day. The shocking truth of black genocide."

mark, I'm not the only one who is talking about it. Just because the WaPo and the rest of the lib media want to downplay it asap, doesn't mean it's not an issue.

And I wasn't 'harping'. I was in agreement with Krauthammer's analysis of Senator Obama's major speech given this week, and wanted to share what I thought was a well written piece.

This is a timely issue because Obama didn't nip it in the bud long ago, as he was advised to do. It goes to character, judgement, and honesty. We have little else on which to judge the freshman Senator.

i can see you're going to spend the rest of the day obsessing about me, SackofZouk. how does it feel to not have a life? how does it feel to constantly, every minute, think about someone you will never meet? it's truly pathetic, lonely little man.

proud, you miss the point because you are so taken up with Wright - I have never read you to harp on any subject like this.

BHO's political base in Chicago was in that church. That's all. He does not want to say that because it sounds like politics as usual. Well, it is politics as usual.

The opponents of BHO will repeat every point in your posts from now to whenever. You could let it go now, or maybe just remind everyone about Wright and how BHO took his kids to church there once in a while.

In Minnesota, mnblue is a group blog representing local and state politics, as well as different interest groups like peace activists. Mnblue not only reports news, it also publishes articles on how to effectively participate in politics. It had the highest rated precinct caucus guide on google. Mnblue is also organizing and tracking the performance of Minnesota US Senator Norm Coleman over time. While local papers, have barely mention the US Senate race, mnblue and lefty blogs have filled in. The Minnesota lefty blogs in general are the best news sources. The lefty blogs have been covering the DFL party conventions, reporting and tracking results.

leichtman, I saw your post last night and do not agree with you that the congressional races in TX are static.

My snake of a district, stretching from Lago Vista in Travis County to the northwest Houston sprawl was gerrymandered by DeLay to give it a rural flavor for 145 mi. in between Harris and Travis Counties. But the growth is at the dumbell's ends, not in the middle. So McCaul, a weak and silly R, only got 54% last time against an unknown first time D Ankrum who spent only $65k.

The Ds put up two actual candidates - one from Austin [Grant], whom I supported, and one from Houston [Doherty], who won the Primary, who will be well financed. The actual candidate is someone I am sure you know - tv judge and plaintiff's attorney Larry Joe Doherty, whom I will now support. I probably would not support him against a more moderate and more effective R, but against McCaul, he is a no-brainer.

Grant, who worked in the Foreign Service, was for graduated pullback, no hard timeline, with large residual forces in Kuwait and the Kurdish north, while pushing regional diplomacy a la Baker-Hamilton and Biden-Gelb, using the residual forces as tactical support for the diplomacy. Doherty toes the antiwar line, which is to draw down as fast as logistically possible.
That policy, popular on the left, makes no sense to me. It is why Richardson, whom I have always admired, first fell out of favor with me in this race.

But McCaul offers no strategy either and just wants to stay. On most [all?] issues, McCaul offers no sense of independence. Doherty reminds me of Charlie Wilson in some ways, and at least he would be for strengthening the military and veterans benefits, and be against torture as public policy.

Who helps Doherty? I continue to think BHO, but I am not about to be in crystal ball land on this. We wait and learn.
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About breaches at State: I will not speculate in advance of the facts as to motivation. Sherlock Holmes would disapprove if I did.

drindl, First of all that is Brian Kilmeade, not Chris Wallace. Brian's a long time co-anchor of the morning show, and they often joke around like that...it was supposed to be funny. He's pretending to get all riled up after Doocy says 'if it were a baseball manager comment would you be offended?'

It's a joke. See, these people have a sense of humor. Maybe you just have a hard time recognizing it.

What a useful Poll! Here in Minnesota, there is on blog that shines above all others and the is MNblue. The analysis is terrific. All of the contributors have their own speciality, and if you want to know what is going on in Mn politics, you can get is all on Mnblue.

this is very bizarre -- chris wallace gets so angry at the way fellow FOX!! co-anchors are spinning the obama/grandma story he storms off the stage...

never seen anythihng like it.

.......................

Actually, it was Faux & Friends cohost Brian Kilmeade who walked off stage because of the distortion against the Obama comment...later Chris Wallace came on to chastise his fellow Faux news employees for their 2-hour Obama bashing.

The beauty of a speech is that you don't just give the answers, you provide your own questions.

"Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes." So said Barack Obama, in his Philadelphia speech about his pastor, friend, mentor, and spiritual adviser of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright.

An interesting, if belated, admission. But the more important question is: which "controversial" remarks?

Wright's assertion from the pulpit that the U.S. government invented the HIV virus "as a means of genocide against people of color"? Wright's claim that America was morally responsible for 9/11 -- "chickens coming home to roost" -- because of, among other crimes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? (Obama says he missed church that day. Had he never heard about it?)

What about the charge that the U.S. government (of Franklin Roosevelt, mind you) knew about Pearl Harbor, but lied about it?

Or that the government gives drugs to black people, presumably to enslave and imprison them?

Obama condemns such statements as wrong and divisive, then frames the next question: "There will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?"

But that is not the question. The question is why didn't he leave that church?

Why didn't he leave -- why doesn't he leave even today --

-a pastor who thundered not once but three times from the pulpit (on a DVD the church proudly sells) "God damn America"? Obama's 5,000-word speech, fawned over as a great meditation on race, is little more than an elegantly crafted, brilliantly sophistic justification of that scandalous dereliction.

Among the blogs hosted are those of former Governor Christie Whitman, former Senator Bob Torricelli, and other current and former state politicians. The site also has reporters that maintain blogs on local issues.

'The record of longtime Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan -- worshipped by business leaders and dubbed "Maestro" in a 2000 biography by The Post's Bob Woodward -- is getting a critical look as his successor Ben S. Bernanke wrestles with problems that began on the Maestro's watch.

Many economists blame Greenspan for lax bank supervision and for keeping interest rates too low, too long from mid-2003 to mid-2004. That, the theory goes, fueled the housing bubble and spawned subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages for low-income people, vast numbers of whom can't make their payments now. Banks bought those mortgages in bundles that are worth far less than they originally were. That has led to big write-offs, shaking the entire financial system.'

When asked how he'd fix the current economic mess, McCain says he has Greenspan's book.

Ohio produces more than 100 political blogs. But if you want just one, I would pass up mine (writeslikeshetalks.com) in favor of Ohio Daily Blog (ohiodailyblog.com) by Jeff Coryell - hands down the best at coverage, primary source reporting, analysis and opinion.

I like mnblue.com because host Eric Pusey not only covers important races and issues, but because he welcomes a spectrum of MN dems to post on his blog.
A nice balance of city/burb/rural, peaceniks and DFL party faithful, local/state/national.

In Tennessee, the best political blog was definitely Volunteer Voters, run off of the Nashville ABC affiliate's website. Unfortunately, WKRN has seen fit to cut it loose, and VV stopped running four days ago.

It featured a roundup of the interesting stories posted by the other political bloggers in the state, as well as insightful and balanced original material. It will be dearly missed.

From this paper's Anne Kornblut - "'You know, look, I think everyone has their endorsers,' said chief strategist Mark Penn. Given that (half of) New Mexico had already voted for Clinton in its primary, 'perhaps the time when he could have been most effective has long since passed,' Penn said. 'I don't think it's a significant endorsement.'"

Uh oh, apparently someone wasn't told that the Clinton camp was falling all over itself and promising the kitchen sink (there it is again) to get Richardson's endorsement. Can someone tell me if this is more of Penn's pathetic spin, or if he is genuinely out of the loop?

Since the libs have yet to decide on a nominee for their party, you'll be on the sidelines until Denver at least when it comes to discussing issues in any substantive manner. It's all about process for now, not issues. The SiperdeeDuper delegates will soon select the nominee for you.

Then after the D convention - one that's sure to put 1968's to shame- your selected candidate can go back to explaining why they want to pull out of Iraq despite the fact that nearly two out of every three Americans surveyed (65%) believe "the United States has an obligation to establish a reasonable level of stability and security in Iraq before withdrawing all of its troops." according to a recent Gallup poll.

ProudtoBeGOP.com - Lively discussions of which senators have the widest stance, Rush-inspired rants, and up to the minute innuendo.

Leichtman!.com - Leichtman vomits up the latest Wolfson & Penn spin, then passes it off as her own

vammapdrivel.org - Vammap holds forth with amusing instructions on how to be a GOP meat puppet

cutandpaste.net - the Control and V buttons on her keyboard are worn down to nubs by her frequent use of them, but that doesn't stop svreader from sharing her provocative revelations about Barack/Hillary.

drindl is 100% correct. This nomination should be about issues, and policy postions,not personalities.
I suggested we stick with issues Thur night and asked others to join that conversation drindl. I concur, valid point.

'It was a surprise to run into Sen. Chuck Hagel (R.-Neb.) and his wife Lilibeth Wednesday morning at Reagan National Airport. But it was an even greater surprise to learn that Hagel - who is stepping down this year after two terms in the Senate - may not support the Republican nominee for President, his old friend and comrade-in-arms from Vietnam John McCain.

Referring to a recent item in HUMAN EVENTS' "Capital Briefs" section (March 10) in which we reported how Hagel told CNN's John King "Chuck Hagel is out of the mix [for '08"]," I asked the senator whether that meant he had not yet endorsed McCain for President.

"You heard right," Hagel replied, "John [McCain] and I have some serious disagreements on foreign policy." When I asked if this meant their very public difference of opinion on Iraq, Hagel said: "It's not just Iraq. It's about the direction of where U.S. foreign policy is going over the next few years."

Joe Bodell from Minnesota at mncampaignreport.com provides the most honest, nuanced commentary on local and national politics. The thoughtfulness is astounding. The other blog I read often is Mnpublius.com, also a great source.

To analogize, mnpublius.com is the equivalent of a great rally speech given by Barack Obama, while mncampaignreport.com is the in-depth, 37-minute speech Barack gave on race this past week. Follow?

MNPublius and MNCampaignreport are both excellent poltical blogs from the DFL side of things.

MinnesotaDemocratsExposed is the biggest right-wing blog, and will give the mainstream MN GOP line but a caveat: look at the expenditures from Mark Kennedy's '06 campaign and Michelle Bachmann's '06 campaign. They both paid many thousands of dollars to the blogger that runs the site. Its popular blog, but hardly an independent one, and the coverage that comes out is determined by the coins that go in.

I'm pretty sure the Bachmann payoff is on the FEC website (at least $5500 dollars) and I think Kennedy gave him around $4500 a month. In contrast, MN Publius asked one of its bloggers to leave when he started to do paid work for Franken.

mark, I posted comments about how I see Texas playing out in Nov and especially my concerns about turning around harris County if Sen Obama is at the top of the ticket especially after this week. curious what you are reading on the Texas blog sites since I have not visited them and whether you caught my comments here yesterday about Texad in Nov?

While the Lone Star Project is not technically a blog, it provides some of the smartest and hardest hitting political analysis and commentary for those who follow politics in Texas. Texas Republicans have come to dread each new Lone Star Project Report.

'Do you believe the breach is imprudent curiosity or politically motivated?'

'A few more details about the Obama passport breach. According to a new piece out in the Post from Glenn Kessler, the breaches occurred Jan. 9th, Feb. 21st and March 14th.
That would be the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit. '

Duh. Of course, Lawrence Eagleburger, who works for McCain, says it's 'clearly not political.'

In Minnesota it's MNPublius.com. Absolute must-read for local politics -and sometimes the state leadership guest-posts on the site. Staffers drop tips in the comments section, and a good time is had by all.

Chris-
Glad you have your priorities straight. NCAA Playoffs come first here, too. Also glad that your favorite political blogs are ones that show up on DailyKos. For a while there, I was concerned that maybe some of the media might really have meant it when they focused on negative stories regarding Democrats. This reassures me that the media will be able to re-focus on defeating Republicans as soon as the nominee is settled on.
-Trevor Wynne
www.atimelikethis.us

Though it has reverted to more of a meta-news blog of late since Joe Biden left the race, www.SoonerThought.blogspot.com can be pretty good for perspective from an Oklahoman. We try to get in some commentary and analysis when we can--but we also have a day job. Started on the Moveable Type platform in 2003 and recently migrated to Blogger, it is almost always rated in the top ten of Oklahoma's influential political blogs by Blog Net News. It is also the "mothership" for the SoonerThought Show podcast--which makes no claims for seriousness or quality. And yes, we are partial to it as it is ours.

The Miami Herald's Naked Politics (http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/) is essential for anyone interested in keeping up with events during Florida's legislative session. The St Pete Times has The Buzz (http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/), but it's more narrowly focused on mirroring items that either have appeared or will appear in the paper.

I hate to be a crank, but I come here to get my Fix. If not here, where can we go to find out what is happening in the Senate and House races? I'd like to be more familiar with the people running and what is happening in the races.